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Radford to expand bus camera program to identify stop-arm violators

Radford City School Board · November 12, 2025
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Summary

The board heard a demonstration of new driver-side, high-resolution cameras mounted to school buses that capture the stop arm and license plates; four of nine route buses had been fitted and the system can provide stills and video to law enforcement.

Radford City School Board on Nov. 11 received a demonstration of a new stop-arm camera program intended to improve student safety by documenting vehicles that illegally pass buses when stop arms are extended.

Director of Operations Graham showed video captured from Bus 8 at about 8:16 a.m. and explained that the externally mounted driver's-side cameras are positioned to capture the extended stop arm and approaching vehicle license plates. The system continuously records high-resolution video and allows staff to extract still images and digital clips for local law enforcement.

"Every day, we have a vehicle that passes one of our buses with the stop arms out, and the worst case scenario is that a student gets hit," Graham said. He told the board the cameras allow the district to pull video and stills that can be shared with the police; administration said the footage is admissible in court.

Graham said four of nine route buses were already equipped and the remaining buses were scheduled to be completed the following Friday, weather permitting. The cameras include software overlays showing bus number, date, time and speed; Graham said the company frames the camera so the stop arm edge is visible when deployed to verify a violation.

Board members praised the investment as a safety improvement and said the district will make a public announcement when deployment is complete.

Quote: "This allows us to pull this information to share it with the local police department," Graham said, describing the workflow for an incident.

Ending: District staff will complete the remaining installations, finalize internal procedures for handling footage, and coordinate with local law enforcement on evidence transfer and follow-up.